NFL Rumors: 4 potential trades for Patriots QB Mac Jones
By Ryan Heckman
The Patriots are actively shopping former first-round pick, Mac Jones, and a few teams have already come up in the latest rumors
As if the NFL offseason couldn’t get any more exciting, let’s add one more big story to the pile. Last season, the New England Patriots watched their former first-round pick, quarterback Mac Jones, endure an inconsistent second season.
Whether you want to blame Matt Patricia, Jones himself, or even head coach Bill Belichick, it wasn’t a pretty campaign for the former Alabama star. At one point, the Patriots toyed with getting a look at fourth-round rookie Bailey Zappe instead of Jones.
Tuesday, NBC Sports’ Mike Florio wrote that the Patriots had officially begun shopping Jones and listed four specific teams in his report: The Commanders, Buccaneers, Raiders and Texans.
Talk about things escalating quickly; we’ve gone from possibly adding weapons for Jones via free agency, to now looking at the Patriots moving him out of New England.
With that report in mind, and the Patriots apparently being serious about moving Jones in the near future, we look at those four teams and what a trade could look like from both ends.
In the first of our four mock trades, Mac Jones gets sent to the Washington Commanders
Let’s get this out of the way, first and foremost: Jones is not going to net the Patriots a first-round pick.
The Commanders are an obvious landing spot for Jones for a few reasons. First off, they have a clear need at quarterback. After parting with Carson Wentz, Washington now has last year’s rookie Sam Howell and veteran Jacoby Brissett as their top two in the quarterback room.
While some believe Howell could prove to be an interesting guy, worth giving a shot, others aren’t sold. We know what Brissett brings to the table as one of the better backups in the league, who has the ability to manage games as a short-term starter. But, neither one of them give this team a clear-cut future.
Adding Jones would give the Commanders a legitimate starter, for now, and someone who could possibly work out in their future. Because the Commanders don’t pick until No. 16 in the first round, they likely aren’t in position to draft any of the top four quarterbacks in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Moving up to get one of either Will Levis or potentially Anthony Richardson is their only shot, as I believe Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud will go first and second, in some order. In this deal, the Patriots get a respectable return for Jones and a sixth rounder.